


Photographs

by pixelpiano



Series: Elibe Week 2k18 [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Genre: Assisted Suicide, Blood, Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Loss, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 14:50:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13706700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixelpiano/pseuds/pixelpiano
Summary: A series of "flashes" of Nino's life...





	Photographs

**Author's Note:**

> For Elibe Week 2018.  
> Prompt: Victory ~~or Death~~ /Dawn (Originally Blood/Bone)

* * *

             Nino wished she could remember her family.

             Sure, she had a photograph—one of the few treasures she had hidden away on her person the night she was abducted. But a photograph was but a sliver of a person’s life…

             She wanted to remember their voices—their laughs, their contented humming. She wanted to remember the way her mother smelled at the break of dawn, when she curled closer to her in her sleep. She wanted to remember the warm, gentle hugs that her brother would give her every day. She wanted to remember what breakfast tasted like when cooked by a diligent father—made with fresh oats, warm milk, and a touch of love…

             She had been 7 years old when her family was slaughtered by Nergal—or so she was told. Her parents told Kai to run off with her; they would hold back the Dark Druid and his minions, with their pale skin and eyes of gold.

             The two ran as fast as they could, but they didn’t make it very far before Kai was burned alive. From his husk, a charred and burnt mess, grew two gleaming eyes of gold. Behind him hovered the husks of her parents, already pale and looking less-than-human. And just before that witch of the night went to incinerate Nino, the Dark Druid himself spoke. He would tell her to keep the child—to raise it as her own. To make her into a great mage of darkness.

             Or, so she was told, she couldn’t actually remember…

* * *

 

             As far as her memory was concerned, she was a Reed. Her older brothers, Lloyd and Linus, would take her out to the market every other Saturday. Linus would always carry her on his shoulders, so that she could see above everyone’s heads.

             If she was good, Lloyd would buy her a mince pie, or honey and bitterberry scones. He would always tell her “Just this once, but keep it a secret.”

             She was very careful to gobble her treat down before they got home, and would keep it a secret just like Lloyd had asked. Her father probably could tell by the streaks of honey or gravy at the corners of her mouth, but he never said a word about it.

             On days when it was too cold to go to market, she and her brothers would stay inside and tell stories, or play games with dice and cards. Nino was never very good at these games, and was pretty sure the times that she ‘won’ were really just Lloyd trying to keep her from crying…

* * *

 

             Her father—Brendan Reed—was a strong and kind man. Some nights, when she couldn’t sleep, he would hum her working tunes until she drifted off in his arms, or tell her legends of warriors and dragons from days of old. When she was sick, he would brew her his mother’s famous cure-all tea. Even though it tasted bitter, she would always drink every last drop, and by the next day, she’d be fit as a fiddle again.

             She once watched him chop down a tree in seven strokes, and as far as she was concerned, that was the strongest a person could be. Linus could do it in twelve, because he was almost as strong as father.

             It probably would take her over one hundred strokes…

             Whenever she saw other men with axes and big muscles, she would always estimate how many strokes it would take them to chop down a tree.

             Her father always remained the winner, with seven strokes.

* * *

 

             When she was 10, she started to notice that her older brothers were looking after her less and less. Her father was training them with swords and axes—he said it would “make them into men” and that these were “desperate times”. Nino wasn’t sure what the latter meant, but despite not being a man, she was very interested in swordplay. Her father said that maybe, when she was older, she could learn.

             For now, she resorted to watching her brothers train. Linus had a habit of hoisting his sword over his head and bringing it down while yelling. By the time it hit the ground, however, Lloyd would be well out of its reach and already darting in for a swift jab. Linus was stubborn—he never learned his lesson.

             When the boys got better, they started using dull swords, then sharp swords, and then would spar with father. Sometimes she had to hide her eyes because she was scared one of them would get hurt. Occasionally the boys would be bruised, but father was always careful to never seriously hurt his sons.

             Nino waited every year until her birthday to ask her father if she was old enough to train with a sword. Each year he would continue to tell her that she had to wait until she was a little older. One year her mother overheard her, and slapped her for making such an “ungrateful” and “unladylike” request. She then forbade Nino from watching her brothers train ever again.

             Her mother never let her do anything…

* * *

 

             “Dhno-shlyeeth-shüshrh!” she chanted, trying to mimic the sounds that her mother made. The words didn’t sound quite right to her ears, but she was having a hard time mimicking them. Was her tongue not in the right place? If only she knew how to read the symbols in mother’s books…

             Her mother’s voice always sounded like a dragon when she cast her magic. She could make flames dance at her fingertips, electricity arc from hand to hand, and conjure whirlwinds that would pick objects up and float towards her.

             It was one of the few times that Nino actually wanted to be like her mother…

             “Ddhno-shüedh-shlyshr…Dhno-slyeedh-shlyzgh…”

             Maybe, if she got good with magic, her mother would see how talented she could be, and she would love her more. She seemed to love Lloyd and Linus a lot more after they started learning swordplay, so why wouldn’t the same apply to her learning something special?

             _“Ððnoʃʎēðʃʎʃʀ!”_

             A small flame, no bigger than a jay’s egg flickered in her hand for but a moment, before disappearing. A smile lit up across her face.

             “Dhno-shüehdh-shlysyrh…Ddhna-shlyeeth-shlyshr…”

* * *

 

             She always hated when her mother held “grown-up” meetings in the house. She wasn’t allowed to leave her room until all the adults had gone home. Sometimes they would stay for hours, and she would get very hungry waiting for them to leave.

             She tried to listen through the door once or twice, but she couldn’t make out any words. Their voices were all muffled, as if behind a thick, glass wall.

             Occasionally, when people showed up early, she would catch a glimpse of the other adults sitting in the common room. One woman had a very kind but sad face. She could do the same sorts of magic that mother could. There was another man who she never heard speak. He once looked her straight in the eye, and just his piercing gaze alone sent her running, terrified, to her room.

             The man with the long indigo hair was her favorite though. He didn’t always come to the meetings, but when he did, he would sometimes slip into her room silently, and hand her a bag of candied nuts, or some chocolate. He’d always place a finger to his lips to make sure she stayed quiet, and then would hold up five fingers before making her close her eyes.

             After the count of five, she’d open them, and he’d be gone. The first time this happened, she left the candied nuts out on the desk in her room, and her mother punished her very severely for stealing them, despite Nino’s pleas of what really happened.

             She always hid them under her pillow after that.

* * *

 

             When she heard that Lloyd had disappeared, she cried for days. She begged to see her other brother one last time, in case he disappeared too, but her mother told her to “shut her mouth” because “crying is for little girls”.

             She was spending more and more time with her mother lately, and it felt like she was getting meaner every day. She busied the long stretches locked in her room by continuing to practice her magic. She could make the flames dance now, and change colours. She was working on conjuring electricity now, with great success.

             She wasn’t doing it for her mother’s affection though—last time Nino was caught doing magic she was punished. She had to be careful about practicing it after that, and only did so when she was fairly certain her mother wasn’t around…

             Speaking of her mother, it seemed she had stopped having those “adult meetings” at their house. At least, that’s what she assumed, because the blue-haired man didn’t come bring her candy any more—she wondered if maybe he disappeared for the same reason that Lloyd had.

             Who was taking her family away from her?…

* * *

 

             The last time she had seen Linus, his face was grim, and his eyes red with rage, hurt, and exhaustion. He had swung his sword at her; his blade only barely nicked her shoulder as Jaffar whisked her out of harm’s way. That was the first time any of her family other than her mother had tried to hurt her before.

             Jaffar had then slit his throat without a word. He would later say he had done it to protect her, even though she had begged him through pained sobs not to kill him.

             But now, Lloyd and Linus were pale, and their eyes were a dull gold, just like mom’s had been. They moved like puppets, their limbs bending at odd angles as they attacked her friends.  

             The incantation came out of her mouth before she could close her lips.

_ssoɦs ʁoɦs nnʀzs ʁʀðð ssloɴʁ!!_

             A flurry of wind blew forth from her fingertips, fierce enough to cut through steel. While they did not bleed like normal humans—Nino’s brothers still fell to the ground with gaping gashes in their chests and arms.

             Just before their eyes closed for a final time, she thought she saw them smile. She couldn’t tell, because her vision was blurry with tears…

             She never did learn that Brendan Reed’s husk had been there too, and that he had spoken three names after Hector had cut him down. The first two were his sons; the last was Nino’s…

* * *

 

             Her children cried when she tried to hand them over to Father Lucius. “Mommy has to go…” she told them, as she planted a soft kiss on each of their foreheads.

             “I can’t do this Nino…you and Jaffar are-…I mean, if they find—”

             “Please-, Lucius…” she begged, “for an old friend?…” Her smile was strained, and tears welled at the corners of her eyes.

             Lucius stuttered indignantly, but finally sighed, and held his arms out to take them.

             “The noisier one is Lugh,” she said, forcing a chuckle, “and Raigh is usually the one causing trouble…”

             “Nino…are you sure—”

             “Please, Lucius…I know you’ll take good care of them.”

             He nodded solemnly, and took the wailing children inside as she ran off into the rainy night.

* * *

 

             “I wanted them to grow up with a loving mother…” she sobbed, as Jaffar held her close. “I wanted them to have what I couldn’t.”

             “You gave them a chance—just like your mother did for you,” Jaffar told her. “Your real mother…”

             “Did you know her?”

             She would never know that Jaffar had lied to her in those final moments to keep her happy.

             “I did—she was a very kind woman. She would rock you and your brother to sleep every night. When you had trouble sleeping, she would project stars from her fingers to light up your bedroom, so you could sleep in the starlight. And I’m sure she’ll be watching down on her grandchildren for us.”

             “Do you…think she’d be…proud of me?” Nino choked. She tasted blood in her mouth, and felt it dribble down her neck where Jaffar’s blade had sliced her.

             “Very,” Jaffar answered, kissing her bloody lips one final time as she wheezed and fell to the ground. Soon after came the sound of her husband falling to the floor beside her. Though her hands had gone mostly numb, she still felt when he interlaced his fingers with hers.

             Those were her last sensations before the world evaporated around her.

             For the second time in Nino’s life, she was at peace with someone she loved.

             For Jaffar, it was the first—and while he welcomed death at last with open arms, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret that he would never see Nino’s smile again…

**Author's Note:**

> The bizzarre incantations for magic are because anima magic, being the magic of dragons, is incanted using Old Draconic. 
> 
> 'ððnoʃʎēðʃʎʃʀ' roughly translates to "the flame burns", and is the incantation for Fire, while  
> 'ssoɦs ʁoɦs nnʀzs ʁʀðð ssloɴʁ', or roughly “powerful winds cut quickly" is the incantation for Excalibur.


End file.
